Gaim forced to become Pidgin

Gaim, the popular open source instant messenger that can connect to many other instant messengers, changed its name to Pidgin. According to Merriam Webster dictionary, a pidgin means a simplified speech used for communication between people with different languages.

Why the name switch? A legal settlement with AOL, that owns the AIM trademark. Since its move to open its instant messenger last year and its strategy to become to a broadband service provider, the company might not want to spread confusion between its OpenAIM trademark and Gaim.

In the same time, Pidgin reached a new milestone. The version 2.0.0 can connect to a broader pool of instant messengers, including Gadu-Gadu, Novell GroupWise Messenger, or the Chinese messenger QQ.